Monday

Paper challenges former Marine's Iraq "stories"

For more than a year, former Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey has been telling anybody who will listen about the atrocities that he and other Marines committed in Iraq.
In scores of newspaper, magazine and broadcast stories, at a Canadian immigration hearing and in numerous speeches across the country, Massey has told how he and other Marines recklessly, sometimes intentionally, killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians. […]
Each of his claims is either demonstrably false or exaggerated - according to his fellow Marines, Massey's own admissions, and the five journalists who were embedded with Massey's unit, including a reporter and photographer from the Post-Dispatch and reporters from The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal.
[Read full article]

Whether you are for this war or against it, this Marine has done a disservice to all. For those who oppose this war, this Marine has hurt the cause of exposing real problems and the immorality of the invasion. This Marine will give right-wing belligerents fodder to continue their smear of those who legitimately and honestly oppose the war, its execution and its managers with sound reason and fact-based arguments; they will self-righteously and smugly dismiss summarily all war critics, using this Marine as a stereotypical example of the "left-wing, liberal, pansy peace-niks."
Most of all, in a time that the U.S. image around the world is greatly suffering, this Marine unnecessarily added fuel to the fire. Our country does need this kind of "help;" we're doing enough on our own to add to that contempt. We unnecessarily add to the danger to our troops still serving in Iraq and elsewhere with such damning stories. We already have plenty to account for, we don't need trumped up stories to defend against as well.
Shame on this Marine for debasing a legitimate debate. Shame on him for scandalizing the anti-war cause. Shame on him for placing his own "15 minutes of fame" ambition above integrity and moral authority in condemning U.S. actions in Iraq. Shame.